I'm planning to be away on vacation for three months this winter. The post office will only hold the mail for one month. Should I get a post office box or have the mail forwarded to my vacation address and then changed back to my home when I return. Any ideas would be appreciated.

In-laws have gone to FL for up to 3 months in the winter a few times. They will have their mail forwarded beginning the day they leave, until about a week before they return. It has worked very well for them.

Do you possibly have a neighbor or family member who could get your mail, screen it for importance and then forward to you for your review?

You could even make up an entire page of new (temporary) address labels for their use. It would be a time saver because all they would have to do is slap on a label over your permanent address and be sure to cross out the tiny bar code on the bottom edge of the envelope. If the mail is first class and unopened, the postal service should forward it without additional postage.

Make sure you pay as many bills as possible, electronically. You will get e-mail notification when they are due and save much time by being able to take action immediately. Of course, you will also save on postage. There will be no delays because of forwarding of mail.

We have done this both ways when we owned a condo in Florida. In general, having a post office box is great for anyone who travels a lot, and having your mail forwarded works well if you are going to be away a long time (i.e., all winter). We made up labels and had someone forward once, but it was hard on them and made us vaguely anxious if the mail was delayed for a few days -- which it certainly will be, no matter who is forwarding it. You are also likely to not get some of the magazines you subscribe to, and you may not get some catalogs, though this could be a blessing.

good advice. thanks

This past year we were out of the country for almost four months. We didn't need our mail forwarded since we had set up all bills to be paid either on-line or deducted automatically though our checking account. We had the post office hold mail for the month, then our neighbor (and close friend) retrieved it and handed in another of our hold mail cards for the next month. These we already signed and dated for each separate month. He did this same routine for each of the next three months. We set up this procedure with the post office before we left and authorized the hold mail card to state that our neighbor (name) had our permission to retrieve our mail. This was our solution and it worked perfectly.

My best friend goes to China every summer. She has her mail forwarded to my address, and I just collect it in a basket for her. If she is looking for anything particular, she will call me to see if it has arrived. When she returns, she simply changes the address back. It works well for us.

I have forwarded mail for relatives and it is some work. I would not feel comfortable asking a neighbor to do it, unless I were pretty good friends with them.

Incidentally just putting a sticker on envelopes and forwarding unopened could hcause some problems. I noticed one return address from our county, and thought it might be taxes or something. Turned out it was a jury summons. A good thing I had opened it so they could call the next day and explain their circumstances.

We go away every summer for three months. There is one bill (cable) that cannot be forwarded. For some reason, Comcast puts on their envelopes "Do Not Forward." We found out the hard way when the account became past due. We have since worked it out by having it automatically deducted, as we do with almost all our bills now.

This summer, we were told by our most-of-the-year PO that when you put in a forwarding order for more than a month, they automatically notify magazines that you have a change of address. I am not exactly sure, but it feels like we are missing a few issues.

I also wonder about what will happen at the end of the summer...if our northern PO will do the same or if I'll have to file a change of address with each publisher.

No, solutions. Just things to be on the lookout for.

When we were gone for 6 to 8 weeks I had our mail forwarded to our daughter's house, and left signed checks so she could pay our bills. Now, most are either done electronically from our checking account, or charged to our credit card.

When we stayed in Florida for 4 months, we just had all our mail forwarded to our vacation address.

The trouble with PO boxes is that they fill up fast.

No matter which choice you make, do it in person a while in advance so that you can see if it's working. I've had some difficult situations with the USPS forwarding, and if you're not there to sort it out, things get difficult.

For years and years, I did this for a good friend who went to WI for 4 or 5 months in the summer. I then could filter out some potential problems. I never had to open the mail- but could tell her at least once a month what came.

She said the PO BOX filled up too fast and also she had problems with not knowing about changes or responses she absolutely had to make.

I agree, JJ5, the post box would probably fill pretty fast. When I have collected mail, I get a list of what publications to keep/toss.

Another suggestion: look up the address for the Direct Mail Association and send them a note with a request to remove your name from all mailing lists. You also can request to be removed from credit card offers.

From Clark Howard's website (consumer advocate with radio show):
"To opt out of offers of credit card offers: For all three bureaus, call 888-567-8688. This establishes a two-year opt-out. For permanent opt-out status, put your request in writing."

Find the addresses for the credit bureaus here: http://tinyurl.com/2pjr98